In the past few years, at least half a dozen states have adopted profiling software to predict the eligibility of citizens for welfare schemes. These algorithms have wrongly declared the alive as dead, the poor as well-off, the disabled as able-bodied, robbing thousands of subsidised food, old-age pension, disability pension, widow pensions, and other welfare benefits for the poor. An investigation into how states are using artificial intelligence in an unintelligent way, at the cost of citizens. With support from the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network.

Who had access to internet during the Manipur conflict when the state shut it off for ordinary citizens? And what did they use it for? A war on social media. Concerted campaigns. Hackers on hire. And angry citizens. We report on the battle of information, disinformation and hate from Manipur. We teamed up with tech experts to analyse hundreds of thousands of social media messages to understand the conflict running online.

TRC investigated more than 5 lakh political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram to assess the influence of Facebook on elections. We found evidence that the world’s biggest social media network systematically undercut political competition by giving unfair advantage to BJP in elections. Read our four-part investigative series here.

The government is setting up building blocks of a project that, in the garb of welfare programs, can lead to tracking of all 1.3 billion citizens from cradle to grave. Every bit of our lives will be linked, recorded and monitored